Only Len Hutton has ever batted longer for England in a Test, but Alastair Cook still wanted more, admitting to a tinge of disappointment at not joining the elite band of batsmen who have made a triple Test hundred.

"It's mad, isn't it, how you can still be disappointed when you score 290-odd," he said. "Only cricket can do that for you. I'm really thrilled that I put a really big score together but there is a tinge of disappointment."

Cook batted for 12 and three-quarter hours – Hutton, in making England's record Test score of 364 against Australia at the Oval in 1938 went on for half an hour longer — and he looked remarkably fresh on the experience. Asked if there was anything else in the world he would rather do for 13 hours, he could think of nothing.

"You do the fitness work so you can cope physically and then the mental concentration is something that you pick up over time," Cook said. "As a batting side, we never have enough. I felt a little bit leggy on the first night, but today I felt fine, although after I was out it was nice to have a sit down.

"When you bowl a side out in two sessions you can bat as long as you want," he said. "There were no time constraints. We wanted to grind out a big first-innings lead. The pitch is not going to get any easier. I think 700-plus is a pretty good effort."